After nearly half a year of decline, Japanese shipbuilders’ order intake finally rebounded in September.
Recently, the Japan Ship Exporters’ Association (JSEA) released the latest data on the order intake of Japanese shipbuilders for September 2025. In September 2025, Japanese shipbuilders received orders for a total of 19 ships, amounting to 687,470 GT, a significant increase of 103.5% compared to the 7 ships (337,900 GT) in the same period of 2024. This marks the first time in six months that the monthly order volume has exceeded the level of the same period last year.
By ship type, the 19 new ship orders received by Japanese shipbuilders in September this year included 18 bulk carriers totaling 681,250 GT (8 Handysize, 7 Handymax, 1 Post-Panamax, and 2 Capesize), and 1 LPG carrier of 6,220 GT.
Despite the brief rebound in orders in September, for the first half of the 2025 fiscal year (April 2025 – September 2025), the order intake for Japanese shipbuilders decreased by 35.7% year-on-year to 93 ships (4,320,750 GT). This is the first time in the past two years that the order data for the first half of the fiscal year has shown a year-on-year decrease.
Specifically, the new ship orders received by Japanese shipbuilders over the past six months included 10 cargo ships (720,180 GT), 74 bulk carriers (3,128,000 GT), and 9 tankers (472,570 GT).
In the first nine months of this year, Japanese shipbuilders received orders for a total of 132 ships (6,476,950 GT), a year-on-year decrease of 30.5%. Classified by ship type, this includes 15 cargo ships (991,860 GT), 105 bulk carriers (4,672,040 GT), 11 tankers (812,570 GT), and 1 other ship (480 GT).
Japanese media pointed out that Japanese shipyards are unable to accept more orders due to a lack of sufficient berths and labor shortages, making it difficult to promptly meet the market demand for new shipbuilding.
As of the end of September this year, Japanese shipbuilders held a total order backlog of 609 ships (29.27 million GT), slightly down from 29.46 million GT at the end of August. Currently, the order backlog for Japanese shipbuilders remains high; based on the completion volume in 2024, the current order backlog is equivalent to approximately 3.5 years of construction workload.
